SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



' 8. He must repeal and call back his Dogges 

 before they enter into the Forest, neither may- 

 he pursue them into the Forest excepte they 

 do first fasten upon the Deer and that the 

 Deer do draw his Dogges into the Forest. 



'9. He may not hunt nor kill any unsea- 

 sonable Deer.' ' 



The disafForestation was effected gradually 

 and at different times, and was not finally 

 accomplished until the reign of William IV. 

 Extirpation of the wild deer followed, and 

 deer hunting practically ceased in the county. 

 The sport is now limited to the pursuit of any 

 deer which may escape from parks. This in 

 its way is very good sport, and the writer has 

 taken part in some capital runs after outlying 



deer which have escaped from Cottesbrook 

 Park. 



In October, 1842, the late Sir Henry Dry- 

 den took the Whittlebury Forest hounds to 

 Canons Ashby for the purpose of killing two 

 does and a fawn which had been out of the 

 park since the preceding August. They 

 found the fawn and, after running her a 

 little, killed ; they afterwards found a doe, 

 but failed to kill. On 8 November, 1842, 

 the forest hounds were brought again to take 

 two does; both were found ; one was hunted 

 and very soon killed ; the other was then 

 dislodged and killed after a rather fast run 

 of about 17 miles in one hour and thirty-five 

 minutes. The scent was very good. 



EARLY FOXHOUNDS 



The following notes refer to isolated facts 

 concerning various packs of hounds which 

 cannot be identified with any of the packs 

 now in existence. The diary kept by Mr., 

 afterwards Sir Justinian, Isham, of Lamport 

 Hall, written in Latin, when he was fourteen 

 years old, gives an interesting picture of the 

 sports of an English gentleman's son in the 

 seventeenth century : and from this book the 

 late Sir Charles Isham was good enough to 

 allow the following extracts to be made : — 



The first entry relating to hunting is dated 

 13 March, 1672, and is very curious : — 

 ' Mr. Green came, and told us a story of 

 a murder near Northampton. Sir Robert 

 Drayton, with other gentlemen, went into 

 the field to amuse themselves with hunting. 

 Whilst hunting, the hounds kept dwelling at 

 a certain place. Observing this, Sir Robert 

 went to them and found the body of a man 

 who had been killed two or three days. His 

 ears and nose were cut off, and his whole 

 body so cruelly mangled that no one would 

 know him. So they sent to the crier at 

 Northampton to proclaim that such an one 

 was found, but no one acknowledged him. 

 It was ordered to be put in the newspaper.'" 



' See note (') on p. 354. 



' More than zoo years after, a similar incident 

 took place near Althorpe Station. On the 

 10 August, 1892, whilst the Pytchley Hounds 

 were being exercised on the high road, they made 

 for the ditch, and could hardly be rated away. 

 This led to investigation, and the decapitated body 

 of a murdered woman was found, and afterwards 

 identified. The murderer, Andrew George 

 McRae, was convicted of this crime, and exe- 

 cuted at the Nortliampton G.iol the following 

 January. 



On 21 October, 1672, Mr. Isham men- 

 tions that ' Mr. Richardson heard that 

 the eldest brother of Mr. Tyrrell, while fox- 

 hunting, had broken a blood-vessel, and the 

 doctor could not stop the bleeding, so that 

 there was little hope of him.' Mr. Isham 

 does not state who kept these hounds. 



The son of the writer of this classic diary, 

 also a Justinian, likewise kept a journal in 

 English. In this he notes his daily occupa- 

 tions and his various experiences in hunting 

 the fox and hare. The hounds with which 

 he generally hunted belonged to Mr. Andrew 

 of Harlestone. Mr. Andrew's huntsman was 

 William Knight, the father of Richard 

 Knight, of Pytchlcy renown. It is related 

 of this huntsman that on one occasion, after 

 finding a fox at the famous Tally-ho Covert, 

 in his great anxiety to get to hounds he rode 

 against the branch of a tree, receiving a blow 

 which deprived him of an eye. He did not 

 discover his loss until having run the fox to 

 ground at Holdenby, the hounds in scratching 

 threw up some sand into the other eye, when 

 he found that he was quite blind. 



On 24 October, 17 10, these hounds 

 had a record run, for Mr. Isham states 

 that ' We had very good sport, a fox 

 having carried us from Blewberries (Blue- 

 berry Covert) to Gumbley Woods (Gumley 

 Wood) in Leicestershire.' This would be 

 a ten-mile point ; but, unfortunately, we are 

 not told the line the hounds took, how long 

 it was from find to finish, nor whether they 

 ultimately killed their fox. 



Evidently hunting bag foxes at this time 

 was a favourite occupation and considered 

 quite orthodox. On 29 March, 1711, 

 ' Mr. Andrews turn'd up a bag fox in 



355 



